Chapter 878 Let’s move forward
While developing the economy, Qi Tongwei also pays great attention to cultural inheritance. He organized villagers to explore the village's history and culture and built a village history museum to showcase Xiangyang Village's development process and traditional culture. Every Spring Festival, he organizes traditional temple fairs and folk activities to let the younger generation understand and inherit the village's cultural traditions.
"Culture is the root of our village and we cannot forget our roots. Only by preserving culture can our village have a soul," Qi Tongwei said to the villagers during a cultural event.
As Xiangyang Village became more and more well-known, more and more tourists came here. Qi Tongwei seized this opportunity to develop rural tourism. He led the villagers to renovate some idle houses, build homestays with rural characteristics, and develop a series of rural tourism projects, such as picking experience and farming activities.
"Welcome everyone to Xiangyang Village and experience our rural life." Qi Tongwei warmly greeted every tourist.
Under the leadership of Qi Tongwei, Xiangyang Village has gradually become a modern new countryside integrating green industry, rural tourism and cultural heritage. The roads in the village are wide and flat, the houses are neat and beautiful, the trees are shady and the flowers are fragrant.
However, with the sharp increase in the number of tourists, a series of problems have also followed. The first is the contradiction in the distribution of benefits. Some villagers in the village believe that they have contributed the most to the development of rural tourism. For example, those villagers who run homestays have invested a lot of money and energy in renovating houses and receiving tourists, but they feel that the distribution of tourism income is unreasonable. They think that the management fees collected by the village committee are too high, while some villagers who only participate in simple agricultural activities can get a share of the pie, which makes them feel unfair.
"Why can they get the money so easily? We get so much of the money we earn by working from dawn to dusk to serve tourists, but so much of it is taken away by others." Aunt Li, who runs a homestay, was dissatisfied and complained loudly at the door of the village committee.
Qi Tongwei gathered everyone together and patiently explained: "Fellow villagers, it is not easy for our village to develop to where it is today. Every link is important. The villagers who participated in the agricultural activities are showing the unique culture of our village. It is our authentic rural landscape that attracts tourists, which is as important as running a homestay. The village committee collects management fees for the better development of the village, to improve infrastructure and promote our village."
Despite Qi Tongwei's best efforts, some villagers are still dissatisfied. The conflict has been temporarily suppressed, but it is like a time bomb that may explode at any time.
At the same time, environmental problems caused by tourism have become increasingly prominent. Tourists throw away garbage at will, and some uncivilized behaviors have damaged the ecological environment of the village. The once clear stream is now floating with various plastic bottles and packaging bags; the flowers on both sides of the village road can often be seen trampled.
Uncle Zhang, an environmental activist in the village, found Qi Tongwei and said worriedly: "Tongwei, if this continues, the environment of our village will be ruined. These green mountains and clear waters are our lifeblood."
Qi Tongwei realized the seriousness of the problem. He immediately organized the villagers to carry out environmental protection publicity activities, posted environmental protection slogans in various places in the village, distributed environmental protection brochures to tourists, and at the same time increased the number of cleaning staff in the village and stepped up the efforts to clean up garbage.
There are also deviations in cultural inheritance. In order to cater to the tastes of tourists, some villagers have over-commercialized the traditional culture of the village. For example, in order to pursue visual effects, traditional folk performances have added many elements that do not conform to the original cultural connotation, making the performances look neither fish nor fowl.
Grandma Zhao, an old artist in the village, was heartbroken: "These children have corrupted the things left by our ancestors. This is not our real culture."
Qi Tongwei quickly found the villagers who participated in the performance, and re-learned and studied traditional culture with them, emphasizing the importance of cultural inheritance and making them understand that the soul of culture should not be lost for short-term benefits.
In terms of green industries, although the sales of agricultural products have increased significantly due to tourism, market competition has also become increasingly fierce. In order to reduce costs, some unscrupulous merchants have sold inferior products as good ones, which has had a negative impact on Xiangyang Village's green agricultural product brand.
"The cucumbers and tomatoes in our village are grown without pesticides and with organic fertilizers. How can they be compared with those inferior products grown with chemical fertilizers!" Brother Liu, who is in charge of agricultural product sales, said angrily.
Qi Tongwei decided to strengthen brand management, apply for geographical indications for agricultural products, and establish a strict quality inspection system to ensure that every agricultural product leaving Xiangyang Village is genuine and of reasonable price.
In the process of solving these problems, Qi Tongwei also reflected on his original intention. He recalled that when he led everyone to develop the village, he simply wanted the villagers to live a good life. But now, with the development of the village, various conflicts of interest and complex interpersonal relationships have made him feel tired and confused. His heart began to be controlled by dopamine, and sometimes he would take some quick and quick means to quickly solve the problem, which ran counter to his original idea.
"Am I really wrong?" Qi Tongwei often asked himself in the dead of night.
He recalled a book he had read, which mentioned that the meaning of life is not to pursue short-term happiness and benefits, but to realize self-worth and create value for others. He realized that he should not be confused by the current difficulties and interests, and must stick to his original intention.
Therefore, Qi Tongwei readjusted his working methods. He paid more attention to listening to the villagers' voices and held village meetings regularly to give every villager the opportunity to express their ideas. In solving the problem of benefit distribution, he introduced a third-party evaluation agency to objectively evaluate the contribution of every villager participating in rural tourism and formulated a more fair and reasonable distribution plan.
In order to enhance the tourists' experience, he also invited a professional tourism management team to plan and guide the village's tourism projects, and incorporate more cultural elements into the tourism projects, such as holding traditional handicraft production courses, so that tourists can experience the charm of rural culture firsthand.
In terms of green industries, he led the villagers to establish a cooperative to unify the management of the production and sales of agricultural products, which improved the villagers' bargaining power and ensured the quality of agricultural products.
With the implementation of a series of measures, Xiangyang Village has gradually returned to the right track of development. Interest disputes have been properly resolved, and the enthusiasm of the villagers has been mobilized again; environmental problems have been effectively improved, and the village has regained its former freshness and beauty; cultural inheritance has also been on the right track, and the authentic rural culture has attracted more tourists.
Qi Tongwei also achieved self-growth in this process. He was no longer swayed by external pressure and temptation, but moved firmly towards his goal.